City explores ways to idle terminal

Residents say trucks are left running at Allentown lot.

Allentown officials are looking at whether they can legally stop operations of a trucking terminal that residents of the Midway Manor neighborhood have protested.

The city ordered Custom Diesel Inc. and Stuff-A-Lot LLC to cease and desist in May for violating zoning laws, but the companies appealed the ruling to the city's Zoning Hearing Board, arguing that it was not operating a trucking terminal.

The companies, which list the same E. Jonathan Street mailing address in state corporation records, said they were operating a trailer storage business at their Sherman Street location.

The zoning board ruled in November that the business was indeed a trucking terminal and upheld the city's cease and desist order, but the companies have appealed the decision to Lehigh County Court.

In the meantime, the company has continued its disputed operation.

Residents of the area say their streets are plagued by noisy idling diesels that spout fumes into the air and cause safety problems.

Many have become activists, writing letters to The Morning Call and organizing efforts to petition city officials for relief.

Several residents of the surrounding streets went to Allentown City Council on Wednesday night begging the city to do something to get the trucks to stop.

Residents said the trucks aren't affecting only the lives of the company's immediate neighbors.

"I live on a side street, and I have had trucks parking in front of my house," said Linda Shaytar, 30, of E. Woodlawn Street.

Mayor Ed Pawlowski said he has instructed city solicitor Henry S. Perkin to look into the city's legal options, and that Perkin may prepare a request for an injunction or a new cease and desist order.

Perkin said Monday that he wasn't sure an injunction request would be appropriate.

"We are doing everything we possibly can," Pawlowski said.

Stuart Shmookler, the attorney for Custom Diesel and Stuff-A-Lot, said he prefers not to comment on pending litigation and said he had not heard the city was considering intervening in the court case.

"We filed an appeal, and the court is going to decide whether the zoning board was correct in their decision or not," Shmookler said. "We understand the residents are upset, and we are following the letter of the law."